Posts Tagged ‘Buddhism in Kerala’

Boddhisatva idol at Vayalvaram, Chempazhanti. Recovered and installed by John Dharma Teerthar some 75 years ago. Mark the minimalist Utariya over the left shoulder.

The Boddhisatva idol in a deeply engrossed meditating stance at Chempazhanthy by the birthplace and natal hut of Narayana Guru has become a familiar figure to most of the visitors. It was recovered in early 20th century by his disciple Swami John Dharma Teertha (formerly Chatanattu Parameswara Menon) from an ancient Buddhist site close to Vayalvaram house (the region including Patira Pally, Kunnam Pally Konam and Ilaya Pally Konam) and installed at the birth place of his spiritual master; often called the “Kerala Buddha” and “Sri Narayana Buddha” by poet disciples like Sahodarn Ayyapan and Pandit Karupan.

Boddhisatva idol from Karapuram/Chertala. Raja Leelasana posture, hairdo and ornaments are marked features. Now displayed in Krishnapuram palace state archaeology museum with the tag “Sasta”

In Kayikara the birthplace of another disciple of Nanu Asan, that of poet N Kumaranasan, stands another granite idol that joins hands in lotus bud posture in life size. It is also identified by scholars as a Buddhist idol depicting the Siddha or Upasaka figure in Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana that sustained in Kerala till 14th and 15th centuries in disguise struggling through Hindu Bhakti waves of Saivism and Vaishnavism. It is also called Tozhuvan or the one who is in the lotus bud pose joining the hands in a devotional stoop. There are place names all over Kerala involving the Tozhuvan affix like Tozhuvankode, Tozhuvanur, Tozhuvankonam etc. The point is that all the three major schools of Buddhism have their sculptural relics and archeological remains in Kerala in transformed ways. The Teravada Buddhas in Mavelikara, Karumady, Kayamkulam etc are associated to the early Anuradhapura style unique to Elam and Keralam. The Mahayana Boddhisatva idols are converted to Muruka, Ayyappa and Kanna in current Hidnu temples from the middle ages onwards. The Vajrayana Siddhas and Tara Devis began to be increasingly called as Tozhuvans and Hindu Bhagavatis in the post middle ages. In the sixteenth century Chennas wrote Tantra Samuchayam and absorbed the Tantric Buddhist deities into the Tantric Brahmanic mode, eventually completing the take over.

The recent discovery and identification of two Boddhisatva idols in Thrissur and Ernakulam districts in late 2014, are important and vital connections in understanding the Hinduization of early Buddhist shrines and idols in Kerala. The Avalokiteswara idols are crucial links in the transformation and modification to the Hindu Sasta cult a combination of Saiva, Vaishnava compromise done on Buddhist and Jain deities. Avittatur is a village near Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district of Kerala. Irinjalakuda as the name shows was a Jain and Buddhist centre till the middle ages say historians. Alavattam or ceremonial white whisk made with Yak hair and rounded majestic hold along with Mutukuda or sacred jewelled umbrella are key Sramana icons safely embedded in the place name.

Boddhisatva idol recovered from Ayyanchira pond in Avittatur near Irinjalakuda in late 2014. Photo by Abi Tumboor. Now in state archeological museum Thrissur.

Local legend has it that Irinjalakuda was ruled till the middle ages by a dalit (after the middle ages) ruler called Ayyan Chirukandan. A sword related to his life is still preserved in the Nambadan household nearby. Ayyan or Ayyar is an old Tamil word for the Buddha in ancient Tamilakam (Chera, Chola and Pandya lands) as Putan, Neelan, Kuttan, Tankan, Ponnan, Nanappan, Nagappan etc. There are several Ayyan Kavus and Putan Kavus in Kerala.

Avittatur or Agasteswara Putur has its etymological origin in Avalokiteswara Putur. Avalokiteswara Boddhisatva of Vajrayana was called Akatiya in old Tamil and that is why the ancient seat of Avalokiteswara at the summit of Potiyil Malai is called Akatiya Malai. This was later Hinduized as Agastya Malai and Agastya Koodam in the middle ages. In this analogy Agsteswaram is Akatiyesaram or Avalokiteswaram and Putur is just the village of Putan or Putar or the Buddha. This double signifiers related to Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism (Avalokiteswara) and Teravada or early Buddhism (Putur) that was implanted here by the missionaries of Asoka in BC 3rd century show the prolonged connection with different schools of Buddhism over the ages; i.e. from BC 3rd century to the middle ages up to the 14th or 15th century. On the eastern coast in Nagapattinam and Tanjavur Buddhism was thriving even in the 16th century. Some of the Pallys or Viharas and Stupas on the Coromandal coast stood up to the British colonial times in 18th century.

Mavelikara Buddha. Related to early Teravada Buddhism in Kerala in Anuradhapura style. Recovered from the marsh near current Hindu temple and installed by the road in 1923 by the people. See the old style normal Utariya above left shoulder that shrunk in later Vajrayana age.

In late 2014 a granite idol was recovered from the ancient pond called Ayyan Chira at Avittatur. Ayyan Chira is named after Ayyan Chirukandan the old (dalit) Buddhist chief of the region. This looked more than a millennium old and was similar to the Boddhisatva idol recovered a few years ago from Karapuram or Chertala in Alapuzha district of Kerala. Prof P O Purushotaman in his book Buddhante Kalpadukal (Thrissur: Current, 2008) or the Footprints of the Buddha has given the clear image of this idol and identified it as Avalokiteswara Boddhisatva. His consort Tara Devi the female Vajrayana deity was also recovered from Karapuram. Prof Purushotaman has printed both the images to prove his point beyond doubt in the book. But unfortunately Kerala Archeology Dept Museum at Krishnapuram palace exhibits the Avalokiteswara idol with the tag “Sasta.” Sasta or Dharma Sasta is a synonym for the Buddha, but it is also a later Hinduized name that is used for Ayyappa. Actually as we have seen earlier Ayyappa is a Hinduized later version of Avalokiteswara.

Tara demonized as Yakshi in Trikariyur temple. Similar idols of Tara are found in Yakshi and Rakshas modifications in Kulatupuzha and Neelamperur temples.

Prof Purushotaman clearly mentions the distinctions of the Avalokiteswara idols. Elaborate hairdo, ornaments on the hair, ear, neck, hands, waist, feet etc. form a distinct feature of the Avalokiteswara figures. The seating posture of Raja Leelasana or Ardha Padmasana also connects it to the Buddhist idols in Vajrayana and Mayana practices in north India, Tibet, Nepal, China, Bhutan, Korea or Japan. The stylized and decorated minimal Utariya is often misrepresented as the Brahman sacred thread by the Kerala Archeology Dept and the idols are interpreted as the Hinduized Sasta and belonging to the post 13th century period. But actually as the stone type, chiselling and iconography reveal these are older than the middle ages and could date back to 7th – 9th century AD and are Buddhist in iconography and cultural markers. Local researchers and historians like Abhi Tumbur, Saifudeen and Krishnakumar were instrumental in the current identification of the idol as a Buddhist one, through elaborate discussions through the social media. Unfortunately it is handed over to the state Archeology Dept Museum Thrissur and they are yet to put it on display. As per the RIT information their iconographic Lakshana texts prompt them to term it also as “Sasta” with the “sacred thread.”

In December 2014 another similar Boddhisatva image was found in the pond near the Pukulam temple near Ponjasery on the Aluva-Perumbavur road. Mr Ismayil Pallypram a local historian and researcher was instrumental in bringing it to the media discourse. The priest himself confirmed that the thread like thing over the left shoulder is not a Brahmanical sacred thread or Punool but a minimal Utariya and the idol could be Buddhist in origin. The tie of knot is visible on the minimal rounded Utariya like the ones worn by people enacting the post cremation rituals even today. The same rope like Utariya is also visible on the Boddhisatva idol at Vayalvaram house. Elaborate hairdo, ornaments, seating posture and the abandoned state in the pond below the current Hindu temple confirm the Buddhist identity of the sculpture. It is also split into two at the waist. Local residents and temple committee members like Mr Aji also informed that he has seen the stone pedestal of the idol in his younger age lying in the muddy pond.

Ancient Naga deities in a Kavu or sacred shrine in Pala. Conservationist culture of early Buddhism is reflected in Kavu culture. Kavu means Kanyakavu or the Boudha nuns who composed texts like Terigadha.

It must be remembered that all the Buddhist idols so far recovered from Kerala were unearthed from temple ponds or marshes close to current caste Hindu temples. Mavelikara, Kayamkulam, Karumady, Pattanam etc are examples of such chanced recovery from Hindu temple vicinity. Utariya, Ushnisha and Jwala are the common markers of the early Teravada Buddhas in Anuradhapura style in Kerala. But in Mayana and Vajrayana Boddhisatva idols we have much more charming and dashing male seductive figures with moving postures, ornamental elaborate hairdo and jewellery. The misinterpretation and hideous misrepresentation of the minimalistic short Utariya as sacred thread is the covetous strategy through which caste Hindu lobbies in the state department of Archeology are reappropriating the sculptures to the Hindu fold. It must be remembered by the people that it was the same Savarna caste Hindu forces that assimilated most of the early Jain and Buddhist shrines and idols as numerous Hindu deities with minor modifications in names and attire. It must also be remembered that most of the invaluable icons of the Sramana age were abandoned and disposed in rivers and water bodies by the Brahamanical priestocracy in the ritual called Nimajjana by saying that an old broken idol is an evil omen.

Boddhisatva idol recovered from Pukulam temple pond at Ponjasery near Aluva. Broken into two and probably demolished and disposed in the ancient Chira or tank with perennial spring that watered the surrounding paddy fields.

When people recover these deposed, demolished, fissured and disposed idols again from the soil and identify their true Amana or Chamana heritage; Brahmanism and Savarna Hindu ideologues in the media and state cultural institutions again mark them with a Hindu hegemonic tag and a sacred thread that re-entangles them in the metaphysics of the second sacred birth. But the mockery is that the same forces of the sacred thread are reluctant to give the same dubious Brahmanical tag thread to the home returnees in their reconversion programme called Ghar Vapsi. The Maharajs and Sadhvis have made it clear that the home returnees will return to their old Sudra or Chandala Kulas and Gotras. It is high time that the people must realize such mass deceptions and cultural hegemony parading as “sacred religion and tradition” and reject the growing Hinduization of public treasures and archaeological relics.

Buddha idol at Topil House in Onampally near Kalady, Ernakulam district of Kerala. Photo by Ajay Sekher 16. 8. 2014

Onampally or Onampilly is a small village on the southern banks of the Periyar just to the opposite of Kalady in Ernakulam district of Kerala. The regions in and around Kalady have plenty of places with Pally or Pilly as an affix to the name. Nampilly, Onampilly, Nellipally, Natupilly, Netinampilly, Talayatampilly etc are some of the place names on the banks of the Periyar in this region. West of Kalady you have places like Vellarapally, Puliyampilly, Marampally and so on. The Pali word Pally means a Buddhist or Jain sacred place. It is generally seen that these Pally names are changed to Pilly in order to obliterate the history of Jain and Buddhist antiquity from the middle ages onwards. Kalady itself means the footprint or Sri Pada that is specifically Buddhist in etymology. Kaipattur a place east of Kalady that literally means the the village bearing a hand print is a clear Jain marker. Manickamangalam is another one. It is also remarkable that Malayatur mountain on the east of Kalady has a footprint on its summit.

Ancient granite idol of the Buddha recovered in 1964 at Topil in Onampally. See the Ushnisham or crown of hair, Utariyam or robe on left shoulder and Jwala or flame of enlightenment atop the hair that are the key markers of a Buddha idol. Could be dated to 7th and 8th century AD and in early Teravada Anuradhapuram style.

In Onampally on the south bank of Periyar there is an ancient household called Topil. This family belonging to the Avarna Ezhava community has a small family shrine in which they worship an idol that was recovered from beneath the soil, from their own plot fifty years ago in 1964. The very name Topil means an orchard or plantation. There are plenty of places with Topil or Tottam as affixes all across Kerala like Totapally in Alapuzha, Totapady in Thrissur, Topumpady in Ernakulam etc. The shrine of Ayya Vaikunta Swamy in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu is called Swamy Topu. These Topus/Topils and Tottams are relics of Sangha Aramas or Buddhist sacred groves and agricultural plantations. The festival and word of Onam is also a colloquial expression of Amanam or Chamanam or Sramanam. The semiotics related to Onam including the floral carpets, yellow robes and little Stupa like Onatapan, the myth of Vamana and Maveli explain its egalitarian anti caste Buddhist antiquity. The place name Onampally is therefore specifically Amana or Sramana or Buddhist in origin.

Buddha at Topil in Onampally or Onampilly near Kalady. Iconographically similar to Buddha idols recovered at Mavelikara, Karumady, Kayamkulam, Kottapuram and Pattanam. Mr Padma Prabha whose Topil house shrine houses it is also seen. 16. 8. 2014 by Ajay Sekher

On 16 August 2014 Mr V P Sugatan of Kodungallur who is researching on the Buddhist past of Kerala informed me that the idol at Topil in Onampally has some Buddhist connections. I went there in person in the afternoon and met Mr Padma Prabha the current family head of Topil and he led me to the family shrine, an octagonal pagoda painted in charred yellow housing a black granite idol seated on a black granite pedestal. The idol in Padmasana in special meditating posture is found to be a typical Buddha exactly in the style and analogy of the ones in Karumady, Mavelikara, Pallykal, Kayamkulam, Kottapuram and Pattanam. The iconography, stone type and chiseling style strongly resemble the other Buddhas so far recovered from various parts of Kerala and south India including the ones at Tyaganur, Arivalur and Putur in Tamil Nadu. This peninsular style of Buddha idols is called the Anuradhapuram style by experts like P C Alexander and S N Sadasivan. The lotus petals are beautifully carved on the seat of the Onampally Buddha at Topil.

Buddha idol and pedestal were recovered 50 years ago from the Topil plot and was enshrined in the Pagoda in 1964. Identification and Photo by Ajay Sekher 16.8.2014

In close examination no Lanchana or signature mark was found on the seat or pedestal and there fore it is confirmed that this Padmasana idol is not a Jain one. According to conventions in iconography it is clearly Buddhist and can be rightly called the Buddha at Topil in Onampally. But it was under earth for a thousand years or more and therefore it shows clear evidences of stone erosion and mutilation. The Buddhist idol specifications or Lakshanas like Utariyam or the robe over the left shoulder, the Ushnisha or the crown of hair and Jwala the flame of enlightenment on top of Ushniasha as a pointed one are clearly visible. As part of the tear and wear under soil or through deliberate mutilation by the evil forces that uprooted it from the nearby Viharas or Pallys, the nose and facial features are badly lost or forcefully altered. In addition to it the Hinduized family that worships it as Rama or Hanuman have done their own decorations and marking with sandal paste, silk and garlands of flowers so that the facial appearance is puzzling and confusing.

Black granite Buddha in deep meditating Padmasana at Topil, Onampally. Exactly like the other Teravada Buddha idols so far recovered from Kerala in Anuradhapura style. Identification and photo by Ajay Sekher 16.8.2014

This alteration or modification could be done under threat from the Hindu hegemonic forces when it was recovered from mud five decades ago. Or this mutilation was done at the time of uprooting and take over by the Brahmanical forces in the early middle ages. Anyway the idol could be dated to 7th or 8th century according to the iconographic style and stone type that closely resemble the other recovered Buddhas of Kerala. It is also remarkable to note that all these Buddha idols were recovered from mud, paddy fields or temple ponds in the last fifty to ninety years only after Kerala renaissance was in full swing and C V Kunjiraman’s essays on Putarachans and Tayyil Ayyans (rustic forms of Putan or Buddhan) got published in 1911 onwards. Now we know that Putan, Kuttan, Ayyan, Appan, Achan, Tankappan, Nanappan, Ponnappan etc are rural names of the Buddha and Tirthankaras. In that sense Nanu Asan or Narayana Guru himself bears the Tirthankara legacy in his very name Nanu or Nanappan that indicates a nude male body of a Digambara and Nirveda Tirthankara.

Buddha at Topil in Onampally near Kalady on the southern bank of Periyar. Facial feature are mutilated and sandal paste markings are distorting. photo and identification by Ajay Sekher 16.8.2014

It is important to note that so much of material and symbolic violence was done to the Buddha icons and idols in Kerala from the early middle ages onwards by the forces of Varnasrama and Vedic obscurantism. Buddha who preached his philosophy of ethics for the good and welfare of humanity was rendered into an ape or monkey god under this dehumanizing religious dogmatism that is a cover to the caste barbarism. The demonization and animalization of the south Indian people are peculiar to the Hindu Metanarratives. The Onampally or Onampilly as the place name itself is distorted to erase the history of Pali word Pally and Kerala’s 1500 year old rich egalitarian and ethical legacy of early Teravada Buddhism and similar invaluable treasures of our democratic cultural past must be rightly acknowledged and protected by the people who care for their rich and humane traditions and cultural genealogies for posterity and for the sustenance of democracy and secularism in the present in the country that is facing severe challenges of cultural Nationalism and chauvinist Hindutva counter revolutions.